Revealed: Winners of the Equal Pay Awards

Five New Zealand businesses and one individual have been named as the winners of the fifth annual Equal Pay Awards.

The Supreme Award was won by Vodafone New Zealand who also took out the Leadership Award.

Vodafone New Zealand’s HR director, Antony Welton, said his team were “beyond ecstatic” to receive this award as acknowledgment of their leadership in equal pay.

Welton added that creating a more gender inclusive workplace and championing equal pay will benefit all New Zealanders.

“Our ambition is to be the best employer of women by 2025, and to help us achieve this we are focused on gender balance and on pay that is free from discrimination as the foundations of equal pay for women” he said.

Vodafone’s head of HR centres of expertise Katie Williams added that the mission to create a more gender inclusive workplace and to champion equal pay is vital in New Zealand.

“Making sure that everyone is paid the same for their job when compared against jobs of a similar nature is one thing, but it’s not just about the principles and having a strategy – it’s about having the conviction all the way through the organisation and the passion to bring those policies to life,” said Williams.

“Vodafone believes gender balance and pay that is free from discrimination are the foundations of equal pay for women, and will help us realise our ambition to be the best employer of women by 2025.”

In particular, the judging panel were impressed with Vodafone’s excellent improvement in return to work statistics through their Re:Connect initiative which the judges described as very innovative.

Moreover, they described their award entry as a “coherent and clearly described set of actions and activities that looks at leadership both internally to the organisation and externally through a wide range of campaigns”.

Auckland Museum won the Community category due to their efforts to address pay equality in the social enterprise sector.

Catherine Smith, Auckland Museum’s director of people and organisation, said that the Museum is committed to being “relevant and inclusive of the many diverse communities that make up Auckland”.

“We are a place for all Aucklanders and making sure we connect with everyone means being committed to treating all our people fairly and by ‘walking the talk’ so all our people can participate fully and feel they belong,” said Smith.

“We have strong female representation in leadership roles – half of our Heads of Department and our Executive Team are female and women also hold three key positions as Chairs of the Museum’s governance and advisory boards.

“We see pay equality as a vital way to recognise and celebrate the essential role women play in our workforce. It means so much to be recognised as a leader for our work on addressing equal pay.”

The Champion Award which recognises an outstanding individual driving equal pay in an organisation was awarded to Dr Jackie Blue. The judges described Dr Blue as having been instrumental in driving positive change for women in her role as the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner.

The Innovation Award was won by Guardians of NZ Superannuation with the judges commenting that the evidence of the Crown Entity’s redesigned leave and benefits programme “speaks for itself”.

Genesis Energy won the On The Journey Award with judges acknowledging their education and coaching of team leaders around unconscious bias, salary negotiation, consideration of individuals, paying for value and the size of the role.

Equal pay was also shown to power staff engagement and retention at Meridian Energy whose annual reporting and award entry impressed the judges of the Progressive Award.